Adventures of an overcommitted Stay at Home MOM to 4 year old identical twin girls who rarely finds time to actually post.

What to Save?

September 24, 2007

It’s that time of year again. It’s time for me to get ready for my MOMs club’s Fall sale. It means a lot of figuring out what still fits, putting things on hangers, pricing, and tagging. I have three weeks to go and figure if I tag 10 items a day I might actually get halfway through everything.

I’ve also been working hard to clean out the third bedroom. Again. This room has become the dumping ground for all things baby. Anything outgrown or unused ends up there. I desperately need to downsize. Which leads me to my big question: What to save?

Do I keep their crib sets? In 25+ years will they actually want their babies to sleep with the $40 Care Bears set? Geez, in 25+ years will the stuff still be usable? DH says to keep them and I say get rid of them. Am I being unsentimental? Am I cheating my kids out of their memories just because they’re twins and I can’t see saving two of everything? And then where does the saving stop? I’m keeping their coming home from the hospital outfits, their first Easter outfits, and some other things I can’t stand to part with. But where to draw the line? Their second Easter dresses are gorgeous. Do I keep them too? What about their Christmas dresses and First Birthday outfits? The 18 gallon bin I originally limited myself to is overflowing. What takes priority? What will they actually want 20-30 years from now? Do I buy a bigger home so I can fit all the stuff I’m saving?!?

Trying to find the line between being sentimental and pack rat….

—–Update: Thanks for all of the great advice. I’ve finally convinced DH that it’s okay to get rid of their crib sets. I married a pack rat who inherited it from his mom. MIL saved so much stuff that you would swear they have a toddler living there now. What with the sliding board out back, the crib, playpen, and stroller inside, and the numerous toys including an A-Team lunch box that DH took to 1st grade. I’ve made DH promise that our house will not look like that in 30 years. Plus, Ebay is no insertion fees through Saturday! (Thanks Carrie!)

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Wow, that’s a great question. So far I can’t answer it. I’ve saved everything for now. Someday I’ll be forced to go through things. For now I tell myself I’m saving things to use for the next baby…whenever that comes. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve considered selling everything and just buying new next time. And when that time gets closer maybe I’ll decide to do that. For now…I can’t cope with parting with things. My mom only has a few little outfits from all 3 of us as baby’s. That’s it.

I think the less you save, the more they will value what you DO save. I only have a few things from my babyhood, and they are special. If my mom would have presented me with 4 large tubs of stuff, I probably would’ve thought “what am I going to do with all this crap?” But since it was only a few things, I was all “ohhh. how cool.”

Whew…still going through this, too. I kept everything the first time around for #2. And I have used everything, but now I am forcing myself to part with a lot of stuff.

I’ll tell you what is addictive, though…EBay! I sold the girl’s bedding sets on their and almost made back everything I socked into them. I don’t think I would have used the set my mom had used on my bed 30 years ago…so I doubt they will want to either.

I have my christening gown and my coming home from the hospital dress…and really that is enough for me. So I’m trying to do the same with the girls. Let a few things go and it’ll start to feel so good, that I guarantee you’ll start looking for things to get rid of! Just take pictures!

Ooh, this is a tough one! My older one has TWO boxes(already) of stuff I’ve saved for him. And my 16-month old (uy, where do I start?); being that she’s a girl I think I’ve gone completely mad-overboard with the saving of the firsts. But I would say to sell off the crib sets – things change so much and by the time they have their own they’re going to want something else. Sorry I can’t be of more help…

What Kahty said. Keeping stuff is sooo anti flylady. You don’t NEED it. Keep one or two VERY SPECIAL outfits and that’s it! I’ve only kept two outfits from each kid (the coming home outfit and one special outfit) and have the stuff that MIL gave me that DH wore when he was a babe. That’s it! Get rid of it! It doesn’t bless you.